Bridgestone is Shaking Their Groove Thang

by Ryan Ballengee on Aug 7, 2009 10:34 AM EDT Comment 5 comments

Remember quite some time ago when we told you about a Ping patent application filing that may well be the response to the new grooves regulations?

Well, apparently Bridgestone didn't read it. They filed a patent application yesterday that is almost the exact same thing as what Karsten submitted.

David Dawsey has the details as his always informative IP Golf Guy blog.

After the jump, we'll compare some of the drawings submitted by Karsten (PING) and Bridgestone and you will see an awful lot of similarities.

First, from PING:

Now, check out Bridgestone's take:

This is some wild stuff. And as David mentions, it is pretty intriguing how two design shops - one in the US of A and the other in Japan - could come up with such similar takes on a new conundrum.

Even more interesting in all of this is that the manufacturers are currently engaged in a campaign against the USGA. While it has to do with grooves, it is more about the vagueness with which the USGA appears to be approving equipment as conforming. The USGA has said the intent of their new regulations is to provide provisions by which they feel manufacturers could create clubs that conform to their goal of simulating old V grooves in irons produced after 2010.

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Thanks for the heads up – I’m sure we’ll be talking with the Bridgestone folks sometime soon.

"this ball will fit in that fairway"

by courtgolf on Aug 7, 2009 2:50 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Anyone want to bet on this getting approved? Given what the USGA just told Callaway: ‘get lost and don’t try to work around the new rules again, pals.’

Sounds like the USGA is dead-set serious about grooves this time around.

by Old Man Par on Aug 7, 2009 3:03 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Yeah, I think the USGA is not taking this stuff lightly. The problem is that they’ll have to set hard and fast parameters around what can and cannot be approved or risk a lawsuit.

Email me any comments or questions at ryan@thegolfnewsnet.com.

by Ryan Ballengee on Aug 7, 2009 3:20 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

How many times does the

USGA have to say this? It is NOT a moving target. What is being targeted is ANYTHING and EVERYTHING that circumvents the spirit of what they are trying to do.

If someone invented a ball with twice as much spin, it wouldn’t get to the New Jersey line before it was outlawed. Why are these manufacturers intent on choking the chicken with this issue? It is for the good of the game and 100% of golfers know it. Not all of them will admit it and just like taking pot shots at the ‘bow-ties’…

...from the land of pleasant living, Baltimore.

by One-Eyed Golfer Guy on Aug 7, 2009 7:25 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I’m not sure what you mean with the ball example, but the folks at the USGA and R&A are charged with protecting the game. Part of that charge is making sure that the game remains in the hands of the player. What we play is not a video game where the technology does the work.

Jimmy Dugan: “…Baseball [ golf ] is what gets inside you. It’s what lights you up, you can’t deny that.”

Dottie Hinson: “It just got too hard.”

Jimmy Dugan: “It’s supposed to be hard. If it wasn’t hard, everyone would do it. The hard… is what makes it great.”

"this ball will fit in that fairway"

by courtgolf on Aug 8, 2009 7:58 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs